Ọya (Yorùbá: Ọya, also known as Oyá, Oiá, Yànsàn-án, Yansã, Iyámsá, or Iansã) is one of the principal female deities of the Yoruba pantheon. She is the oriṣa of winds, lightning, and storms and is the only oriṣa capable of controlling the Eégún (spirits of the dead), a power given to her by Babalú Ayé.
Beliefs and Attributes
Ọya lived on Earth as a human from the town of Ira, in present day Kwara state, Nigeria, where she was a wife of the Alaafin of Oyo, Shango. In Yorùbá, the name Ọya is believed to derive from the phrase coined from "ọ ya" which means "she tore," referring to her association with powerful winds. She was believed to have the power to shape-shift into a buffalo, and is often depicted as one in traditional Yorùbá poetry. As such, the buffalo serves as a major symbol of Ọya, and it is forbidden for her priests to kill one. She is known as Ọya Ìyáńsàn-án, the "mother of nine", because of the nine children she gave birth to with her third husband Oko, after suffering from a lifetime of barrenness. She is the patroness of the Niger River (known to the Yorùbá as the Odò-Ọya).
In the Yoruba religion, Ọya was married three times, first to the warrior orisha Ogun, then Shango, and finally, another hunting and farming deity, Oko.
Oya was traditionally worshipped only in the areas of Yorubaland once under the control and influence of the Oyo Empire. Because of the Atlantic slave trade, many of her followers of Oyo origin were kidnapped and sold to the New World, where her worship became widespread. Oya worship has also spread to other parts of Yorubaland.
Characteristics
- Salutation: "Eeparrei!", or "Epahhey, Oia!"
- Consecrated day: Wednesday
- Colors: red, purple and rainbow, burgundy
- Symbols: "Buffalo tail" eruquerê, a ritual object; or a copper sword
- Prohibitions: pumpkin, stingray, and mutton
- Food: acarajé/àkàrà
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Bibliography
- Judith Gleason. Oya: In Praise of an African Goddess. Harper, 1992.
- Charles Spencer King. Nature's Ancient Religion.
- Douglas Pulleyblank. "Yoruba". In B. Comrie (ed.), The Major Languages of South Asia, the Middle East and Africa, Routledge, 1990.
- Natalia Bolívar Aróstegui. Orishas del Panteón Afrocubano. Quorum Editores, 2008.
- Vagner Gonçalves Silva. Orixás da metrópole. Editora Vozes, 1995.
- Muniz Sodré. O terreiro e a cidade. Vozes, 1988.
- Muniz Sodré and Luís Filipe Lima. Um vento sagrado.
- Jean Ziegler. Os vivos e a morte. Zahar, 1977.